ZANZIBAR- The same as it was at E3. Really a well thought out and balancedmap, and, to be brutally honest, puts maps like Blood Gulch to shame. Notmuch to say about it because we all already saw it at E3. The one thing is,getting the plasma sword isn't as hard as they make it seem.

MID SHIP- A level taking place on a covenant battle ship. Mostly a roundmap, it has plenty of different height elevations that allow for sneakytactics, especially in CTF. A main platform in the middle holds a newweapon, witch I will get to later.

IVORY TOWER- I don't really get Ivory Tower, it seems to be some sort of anenclosed greenhouse or park. It has elevator type platforms, something thatwas missing from Halo:CE MP maps. It also has powerful air vents that if youwalk over will send you soaring through the air to the level above. Thoseare an excellent way for avoiding death and turning the tables on yourattacker.

Weapons

SMG- Not as bad as it looks. It will definitely satisfy people who aremissing the ol' assault rifle because of its large clip size, but thatlittle baby packs a punch. Two SMGs can take kill a person in about one ortwo seconds. Watch out for that one.

SHOTGUN- Back and badder then ever. It has a slightly new look, very sexy ifyou ask me. The reload rate is a little slower, but it makes up for it withit's powerful attack.

SNIPER RIFLE- Guess what it has? RECOIL WOOT WOOT! There is a slight recoilwhen you shoot it, making it difficult to kill people as easily. Finally,sniping in that game will take a little more skill then before. The bullettrail is still there, and it sports a new, slicker look. It's scope is roundinstead of square, and the rifle itself is more streamlined.

ROCKET LAUNCHER- Not much to be said here. It's a little bigger then it wasbefore, and fires slightly faster. Target tracking isn't as unfair as itseemed, it actually adds more balance.

BATTLE RIFLE- A fun and cool looking weapon. Much deadlier when it isscoped. Because it fires bursts unscoped, it can be more difficult to hityour target and I prefer the SMG for close quarters stuff.

NEEDLER- Fast. Deadly. Awesome. This gun will become a favorite veryquickly. The needles are lightning quick and it fires much faster. SMG andNeedler duel wielded is really really deadly.

PLASMA RIFLE- Not much to say, sports a new look and sound and doesn'tfreeze you as much when you are hit with it.

PLASMA PISTOL- Once again, not much has changed. New look and sound, stillpretty useless.

BEAM RIFLE- OMG OMG OMG new weapon! The covenant Beam Rifle is theequivalent to the human Sniper Rifle. It has the same scope power, two timesand ten times scope. The main difference is that like all other Covieweapons, it does not have to reload. This allows you to stay scoped as longas you want. It has 100 charges and drains 4 charges with each shot, so youdo the math. However, it does overheat, and will do so after two rapidsuccession shots. If you have patience though, you can keep up a steadystream of shots without overheating.

BRUTE SHOT- Another new weapon, it is the Brute rifle. Not really a riflethough, more of a grenade launcher. I didn't use it that much, the only mapit was on was Mid Ship. That, and it wasn't very good. It fires grenadesthat bounce around, so it is hard to hit your target. Still cool though.

ENERGY SWORD- Don't mess with the best 'cause the best don't mess. Thatpretty sums up the energy sword. If you see someone coming at you with it,back away and empty every clip of every weapon you have into them, becauseit is deadly. Once they get a good lock on you, pressing R will do the lungeattack and one hit kill you back to Halo 1. I have lovingly dubbed it the"n00b stick" to go along with it's other n00bish partner, the n00b cannon,or rocket launcher.

Differences and new stuff:

-You can jump higher-You seem to throw grenades a little shorter-You can see your feet-You see your shields spark and crackle when they are taken down, and yousee a ring similar to the one at the beginning of PoA when they recharge-All weapons have more than one melee attack-When scoped in with any weapon, it has an ammo count in the scope to tellyou how much is left.-All weapons aside from scoped weapons have binoculars.-Hijacking vehicles is hard but awesome. And I mean awesome. It's like.knifing some one on Counter Strike.-When in the warthog passenger seat, it is a third person view instead ofFP, making it much easier to aim.-The warthog handles better, and the right trigger is a horn and the left isa brake. It DOES NOT have a boost.-The Ghost is still awesome and has unlimited boost.-One strange thing I noticed was that there is no fall damage, but that isprobably just the beta.-The HUD is completely different. The health bar is now vertical, and isabove your radar in the lower left hand corner. Your right-handed weapon hastaken the health bars previous spot, and the left-handed weapons info is inthe upper left hand corner. You also can see what your reserve weapon is. Inthe bottom right hand corner is a score keeper, a red bar and a blue barthat show the difference between kills, flag captures, etc. This allows youto quickly check the score without having to press back.-There is no more health. Once your shields go out, you can take three orfour more shots, but there is nothing to indicate how much health you haveelft.-Frag grenades don't look like pineapples anymore.-You move slower while carrying the bomb or flag, and must hold x to pickthem up.-Spartans and Elites grunt in pain when they are it with no shields up.-Halo 2 will support four people on one Xbox for LIVE play. All at the sametime. In case you didn't here me, I just said FOUR PEOPLE ON LIVE AT THESAME TIME ON THE SAME BOX! How awesome is that?-There is no flashlight it is now a teamspeak button.

New Gametypes

SWORDS- Yes, there is a swords only game type. 'Nuff said.

ASSUALT- This is not like the assault with flags. This one is done withbombs. It is a lot like bomb maps on CS. One team is on defense, while theother is on offense. Some one on the offensive team must pick up the bomb,which is like flag in that you can melee with it but can't carry it and useguns at the same time. The offensive team must then escort the bomb bearerto the defensive teams base, plant the bomb, and prevent the enemy fromdefusing it. You defuse by simply standing on the bomb. After the round isover, the teams switch roles, like one flag CTF. It is really an awesomegametype.

Rumors killed or confirmed-

-You CANNOT drive any vehicles while carrying the flag or bomb.-You CANNOT duel wield plasma swords.-The flag and bomb DO slow you down.-There IS NO DIFFERENCE aside from appearance between Spartans and elites inMP.-There is NO health meter.Maps-

WATERWORKS- You can all see the waterworks screenshots, and it is really,really huge. It has all of the known vehicles; Tanks, 'Hogs, Ghosts, andBanshees. This map truly is gigantic, and you need at least 10 people. Inthe middle of the map is a giant crevice that you can fall down (and die)and fly banshees down (and live, but nothing is there). The bases have anassortment of weapons and a stationary gun turret with a good field of fire.

Weapons-

COVENANT CARBINE- I never found this before because it is hidden on bothMidship and Ivory Tower. Why is it hidden? Well, I'll tell you. It isprobably the best gun in the game. It basically is the equivalent to thebattle rifle, only better. It always fire single shot, but you can hold downthe trigger. This way it is like shooting a machine gun with a decent rateof fire through a scope. Also, it doesn't overheat, it fire cartridges. Thatlittle flower thing on top is the clip. It has a 20 shot clip.

MAGNUM- So there it is. The pistol. I hope all you pistol crazy people arehappy, it's there. Honestly though, what game doesn't have a pistol? It HASbeen toned down though. I couldn't tell about the amount of damage it did,but it only has a ten shot clip and no scope. It still has the same shape asbefore, but it is completely black.

Vehicles-

SCORPION TANK- There it is, it also is back. It is the exact same thing asbefore, except it's main weapon has a faster rate of fire, and coolerexplosion effects. It also moves on an independent axis from it's turret.Now you can "strafe" so to speak with a tank. Also, it doesn't take anyvehicle damage. I spent 5 minutes shooting it with every weapon, includinganother tank and it didn't leave a scratch.

BANSHEE- The Banshee also is the same, except for a few minor performanceupgrades. It can strafe, that is a big improvement. It also doesn't have afuel rod god, that was replaced with the boost. It CAN be hijacked

Stuff to note.

-Vehicles damage is highly case sensitive, and you can't shoot out the tiresof a warthog-The SMG target reticle is the same as the AR from Halo:CE.-Elite hands look funny, our clan HAS to be Spartans.-The Elite HUD is purple.-No melee while duel wielding.